spicy 'nduja kale pasta
Vacations that end early evening on Sunday are tough. You know you ought to grocery shop, lay a solid foundation for the week. You also know your weekend isn’t over, and that you have time. But you are not going to do it. It is in this scenario when you will drag ideas like this out of the recesses of your iCloud Notes to see how much you can do with as little as humanly possible. And the reason you can do this is because you hoard a small collection of non-perishable pantry basics and a handful of crafty staples that take forever to go bad, one of which is ‘nduja.
Think of ‘nduja as a more emotionally stable sausage: it keeps for months in the fridge, is easy to work with, and comes in a compact just-enough size of 4 ounces. In Abruzzo, pork products with a lot of personality like this tend to get matched with dark, serious, often bitter greens, which I tend to use up before I leave town and therefore never have waiting for me when I return home. But I keep bags of frozen kale around always, and sautéed it straight from frozen to get the water out before folding in olive oil and minced garlic; spinach would also work well in case you’re a hater, only cooked for a shorter time.
it’s the kind of pasta shape you just want to smoosh against your teeth
The toasted breadcrumbs in here add salinity and textural contrast that functions similarly to parmesan—although there is a small amount of cheese in the dish itself, too, as long as you kept some in the fridge before vacation. The one caveat is that there are no tomatoes or wine in this dish, and so it’s got to be lemon at the end to provide the only, and highly necessary, acid kick.
In Southern Italy, adaptability reigns, and so there are a number of different pasta shapes that would work here. Orecchiette would be a natural fit, and there is dish on the menu at Osteria Mozza in Los Angeles using both it and chard in a similar prep, but pictured here is Cascatelli, a “new” pasta by Sfoglini that the food Instagram ~influencer community~ went crazy over this spring. It takes twelve weeks to ship, which was exactly long enough to forget that I ordered it altogether. It felt right to use a whole box of it here for the first time.
RECIPE
Effortful time: 10 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4-6 (but honestly, it’s so good that it’ll be closer to 4)
YOU NEED
1 lb. short, sturdy pasta, like orecchiette, mezzi rigatoni, cavatelli, or cascarecce
4 oz. ‘nduja
8-10 oz. frozen chopped greens, your choice—I prefer kale
1/4 cup olive oil + 2 tbsp more for the breadcrumbs
4 large cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. grated pecorino or parm, plus more for serving
1/4 cup panko
Juice of one lemon
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
MAKE IT
Prep your pans. Bring salted water for pasta to boil in a large pot. Heat a large skillet over low-medium heat.
Cook your greens. Add the frozen greens to the skillet and cover to steam until fully thawed and softened. Uncover, put a pinch of salt into the greens, and turn the heat up to medium. Scoot all the greens to one side, then add the 1/4 cup of oil to the empty spot you made. Fry the minced garlic and chili flakes for 30 seconds, then stir it all together. Continue to cook uncovered according to the package directions, about 5-6 minutes if using kale; this will cook the water out.
Put the pasta in. You’ll cook this to 2 min under al dente.
Brown the ‘nduja. Open the ‘nduja and spoon the entire thing into the pan with the greens. Stir and break it up with a spoon until you’ve crumbled it all. It will start to ‘melt down’ as the fat renders out.
Separately, toast the panko. In another small skillet (simple ≠ low dishes!) heat the remaining 2 tbsp of oil. Toast and stir the panko lightly about 3 minutes before pulling it off the heat just as it begins to look evenly golden brown. It will continue to darken for another minute after that.
Assembly time! Turn the skillet with the greens and ‘nduja to very low heat. Using a pronged spoon, transfer the pasta into the skillet, keeping the remaining pasta water on the side. Add the cheese and lemon, then stir well, emulsifying with a little more pasta water at a time so that the sauce stays glossy and visible but not thin or watery—I use a small cup or ladle for this. Then scatter the breadcrumbs over and stir one more time to combine.
Finish it up. Serve with shavings of cheese, fresh black pepper, and a drizzle of the good olive oil.